Either Work or Have Children: Parents are Faced with Choosing One

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Niagara families are facing a powerful decision, work? or have children?

“High quality day care is expensive and it’s hard to find,” said Phillips, who knows what it’s like to try to juggle work and kids. The Beamsville resident was an on-call reporter for the Hamilton Spectator when she and her husband were expecting their first child 12 years ago. Then the couple had child number two. They did the math, and Phillips opted to be a stay-at-home mom because it simply made financial sense instead of forking out big dollars for day care.

“My husband was making a good wage, but it was still cost-prohibitive for us with two children,” she said.

“Mothers are choosing between work and having children,” Phillips said. “It’s reality.”

"Phillips said at a time when governments at all levels are struggling to balance budgets, affordable day care should be something that decision-makers consider because day care brings key social and economic impacts. That includes kids more likely to succeed down the road because they’ve been exposed to high-quality day care with early childhood educators, and taxes collected by governments from working parents."